Attachment Flashcards
(88 cards)
1
Q
Attachment
A
a strong emotional bond shared by an infant and a primary care giver
2
Q
Interactional synchrony
A
- the infant imitates their caregivers actions
3
Q
Reciprocity
A
- infants and caregivers interacting with a conversation-like rhythm and taking turns
- an important precursor to later communication
4
Q
Care-giver interactions
A
- reciprocity
- interactional synchrony
- caregiverese
5
Q
Interactional synchrony - Meltzoff and Moore
A
- an adult model displayed 1/3 facial expressions or hand movements where fingers moved in a sequence
- the infants reaction was then filmed
- an association between the infant behaviour and the adult model was found
- in a later study, they found infants as young as 3 days old showed interactional synchrony
- suggests infant-caregiver actions are innate
6
Q
AO3 Meltzoff and Moore - Problems with testing infant behaviour
A
- infants’ mouths are constantly in motion and the expressions they were testing for occur frequently either way (tongue out, yawning, smiling)
- difficult to distinguish between general activity and intentional imitation behaviours
- they overcame this however by recording the infants and asking an observer with no criteria to judge the infant’s behaviour (increased the internal validity)
7
Q
AO3 Meltzoff and Moore - Intentionality supported
A
- a study was done observing infants’ responses to inanimate objects
- found that infants between 5-12 weeks showed little response to objects
- supports the idea that they are a specific social response from babies to caregivers
8
Q
AO3 Caregiver-infant reactions - Real-life application
A
- understanding of infant-caregiver reactions can help us develop parent-child therapies/solutions to improve their bonds
- however, these therapies encourage women to stay at home which can have negative effects on both the economy and stereotypes surrounding women
- although it has practical value, it is socially sensitive
9
Q
AO3 Meltzoff and Moore - Failure to recreate findings
A
- a hallmark of strong psychological research is that its findings can be replicated, but this wasn’t the case w/ M&M
- Koepke et Al tried and failed to replicate the findings, but M&M countered that this was because their study was less carefully controlled
10
Q
Schaffer’s stages of attachment
A
- Asocial
- Indiscriminate
- Specific
- Multiple
11
Q
Asocial stage
A
- 0-6 weeks
- infants respond similarly to people and objects, but perhaps more to people
12
Q
Specific stage
A
- 7+ months
- the infant begins to prefer one particular caregiver (typically the mother)
- begins to experience stranger and separation anxiety
12
Q
Indiscriminate stage
A
- 6 weeks - 6 months
- infant can differentiate between objects and people but can be comforted by anyone
13
Q
Multiple stage
A
- 10/11+ months
- the infant has now formed multiple attachments and seeks comfort from multiple people, as well as experiencing separation anxiety for multiple people
14
Q
AO3 Schaffer & Emerson - Inflexible
A
- an issue with ‘stage theories’ is that there are inflexible, suggesting that everyone has a fixed order for development
- in collectivist societies, multiple attachments are more likely to precede specific attachments
- the theory is limited as it is both deterministic and culture biased
14
Q
AO3 Schaffer & Emerson - Sample issues
A
- all from working-class families
- all from Glasgow
- cannot be generalised to other groups of people
- low population validity
14
Q
Schaffer & Emerson study
A
- studied 60 babies from working-class families in Glasgow
- visited the babies and mothers in their homes every month, for 18 months (longitudinal study)
- found that attachments were based on who interacted most with babies, rather than who spent the most time with the babies
- mothers also kept diaries about the infants’ behaviour, eg. their separation and stranger anxiety (self-report)
15
Q
AO3 Schaffer & Emerson - Methodological issues
A
- self report could have led to demand characteristics
- the mothers may have been insecure about not being able to spend lots of time with their children, and therefore lied in their diaries so they didn’t seem like bad mothers, skewing the results
- longitudinal studies cannot control all variables
16
Q
AO3 Schaffer & Emerson - Socially sensitive
A
- S&E found that the strongest attachments were formed between mothers that interacted lots with their babies
- for some mothers that work this isn’t possible, which could be socially sensitive and lead them to feel like bad mothers
- this could also lead to economic implications if the mothers quit their jobs to spend more time interacting w/ their babies
17
Q
What did Schaffer & Emerson say about the Role of the Father?
A
- 75% of infants in their study formed a secondary attachment to their father by 18 months
- suggests that the father is important, but not likely to be the first person infants form an attachment with
18
Q
Imprinting
A
animals will attach to the first moving thing they see after being born
19
Q
Sexual imprinting
A
animals will attach and show sexual behaviours towards the first moving thing they see after being born
20
Q
Critical period
A
- the idea that if attachment doesn’t happen after a certain period of time, it will never happen and have serious consequences for the individual
- Bowlby proposed the critical period for humans to be 2.5 years
21
Q
Harlow’s Rhesus Monkeys
A
- removed the newborn monkeys from their mothers and brought him to his lab where they were enclosed with 2 mothers: a wire mother that dispensed milk, and a cloth mother that provided comfort
- the monkeys spent almost all their time with the cloth mother, only going to the wire mother when hungry
- when presented with a fear stimulus, the monkeys ran to the cloth mother for comfort
22
Lorenz's greylag geese
- took 12 eggs and let half of them hatch in front of him so they would imprint onto him
- to ensure that imprinting had occurred, he put all the geese in a box and when released, the half that imprinted on him ran towards him, whereas the other half ran towards the real mother goose
- supports imprinting theory
23
AO3 Lorenz - Guiton et Al
- contradicting research
- made chickens imprint on yellow washing up gloves
- as they grew up, they tried to mate with the gloves but eventually learnt to mate with other chickens
- suggests sexual imprinting is not as permanent as Lorenz believed
24
AO3 Harlow - Ethical issues
- has been criticised for being extremely unethical
- the monkeys showed extreme distress both when originally separated from their birth mother and when separated from their cloth mother
- in adult life, the monkeys showed distress in social situations and some ended up killing their offspring
- failed to protect 🐒's from harm and permanently psychologically scarred them
25
AO3 Harlow - Practical value in zoos
- the understanding of the importance of comfort and love for animals has to lead to better treatment of animals in zoos
- animals are now less likely to be forcefully removed from their families, and more likely to be housed in zoos together
26
AO3 Lorenz - Issues with generalisablity
- generalising findings from geese to humans should be approached with caution
- mammalian attachments are very different to bird attachments so his findings have low ecological validity
- at least Harlow used monkeys which are recognised as sharing brain similarities with humans
27
Learning theory of attachment
- learning theory sees children being born with blank slates
- the baby has to learn to form an attachment with the mother through operant and classical conditioning
- cupboard love (we form attachments to the person providing us with food)
28
Classical conditioning in attachment
- baby associates the mother (neutral stimulus) with the pleasure of being fed (unconditioned response)
- the mother then becomes the conditioned stimulus and starts causing pleasure for the child even when she isn't feeding it
- thus begins the attachment
29
Operant conditioning in attachment
- when the child cries, the mother comforts them with food or affection
- the more this happens, the action is reinforced and the child associates the mother with those rewards
- food is the primary reinforcer and the mother is the secondary reinforcer
30
AO3 Learning theory - Harlow
- Harlow's study found that comfort was more important than food
- disputes the learning theory that attachment is based solely on food
31
AO3 Learning theory - Lorenz
- learning theory suggests that attachment is learnt, whereas Lorenz's geese study found that attachment and imprinting was innate
- learning theory is limited due to contradicting research
32
AO3 Learning theory - Caregiver-infant interactions
- learning theory suggests that attachment is learnt, whereas Meltzoff and Moore's research into caregiver-infant reactions (CGIR) suggests that is innate
- found babies as young as 3 days older displaying CGIR
- 3 days of life isn't long enough to classically condition the mother as a conditioned stimulus
- learning theory is limited due to contradicting research
33
AO3 Learning theory - Reductionist
- learning theory is reductionist as it only explains behaviour in terms of environmental influences, while ignoring other factors like biology
- could be better to take an interactionist approach to explain something so complex
34
Bowlby's monotropic theory
- took an evolutionary approach to explaining attachment, and said that it is innate
- we are pre-programmed to attach as it is vital for our survival
- ASCMI
35
ASCMI - Adaptive
- we have adapted to attach as it is a survival mechanism (ensures a child is safe, warm, and fed)
36
ASCMI - Social releasers
- eg. cute baby faces
- unlock the innate tendency for adults to care for a child (activates the mammalian attachment system)
37
ASCMI - Critical period
- the time in which an attachment can form
- Bowlby believed it to be 2.5-3 years
- if an attachment doesn't form in this time, it never will, leading to being social, emotional and physically stunted
38
ASCMI - Monotropy
- you can only form one special intense attachment
- maternal deprivation (not forming an attachment during the critical period leads to deficits)
39
ASCMI - Internal working model
- a mental representation formed through a child's early experience with their primary caregiver
- influences how the child interacts and builds relationships w/ others as they grow up
- patterns of attachment will be passed from 1 generation to the next
40
AO3 Monotropic theory - Support for internal working model
- Bailey et Al (2007) tested 99 mums with 1 y/o babies and interviewed the mothers about their own relationships with their mums
- they found a generational pattern of attachment styles
- mums who had poor attachments with their mums were more likely to have poor attachments with their own children
41
AO3 Monotropic theory - Contradicting evidence
- S&E's research disputes the idea of monotropy
- they found that a minority of infants formed multiple attachments at the same time
- contradicts Bowlby's theory
42
AO3 Monotropic theory - Socially sensitive
- although Bowlby didn't specify the mother needs to be the primary caregiver, she often is (65%) which puts pressure on working mothers to delay their return to work to ensure their child develops properly
- any abnormalities in a child's development are often blamed on the mother
- economic implications
43
AO3 Monotropic theory - Critical period
- the critical period has been criticised for being too strict
- some Romanian orphans that were adopted after age. were still able to attach
- the term has since been changed to the sensitive period
44
AO3 Monotropic theory - Lorenz support
- Lorenz's geese study supports the idea that attachment is innate
- also supports the critical period
45
Strange Situation procedure
1. mother and baby alone playing
2. stranger joins
3. mother leaves baby and stranger alone
4. mother returns and stranger leaves
5. mother leaves and baby is alone
6. stranger returns, just baby and stranger
7. mother returns and stranger
46
Aims of the Strange Situation
- assessed how in/securely attached a child was to caregiver
- measured exploration behaviours, separation anxiety, stranger anxiety, and reunion behaviours
47
Strange Situation findings
- 70% had a secure attachment
- 15% had a resistant attachment
- 15% had an avoidant attachment
48
What are the attachment styles?
- secure
- insecure-resistant
- insecure-avoidant
- disorganised (later identified)
49
Secure attachment
- desire for proximity and closeness
- positive reunion response
- no avoidance/resistance
- preference for mother over stranger
- distress when mother left
50
Insecure-avoidant attachment
- no separation anxiety
- no reunion behaviour
- no distress during separation
- indifferent to being alone
- likely has caregivers that ignore their emotional needs
50
Insecure-resistant attachment
- clingy to the mother and unwilling to explore
- extreme stranger and separation anxiety
- ambivalent towards the mother, sometimes resists contact
51
AO3 Strange Situation - Demand characteristics
- a strength of using infants in studies is that they are unaware they're being studied, so don't show demand characteristics
- however, the mothers knew it was an overt observation and therefore could have acted differently to how they would normally, which affects the internal validity
52
AO3 Strange Situation - Ethical issues
- the Strange Situation was designed to generate a level of stress to the infants, and they could have been confused and psychologically harmed
- 20% of infants cried desperately
- there was only presumptive consent as the infants were too young to understand and consent in the study
53
AO3 Strange Situation - Sample issues
- sample consisted only of middle-class Americans with female caregivers
- findings cannot be generalised to people of different classes or from different cultures
- low population validity
54
AO3 Strange Situation - Ecological validity
- the playroom the experiment was conducted in was not the infant's home environment was strange and unfamiliar, and therefore the infant may not have behaved genuinely
- however, this controlled environment was necessary to ensure internal validity was high and that variables were controlled
55
Individual cultures
- value independence with each working toward their own individual goals
- e.g. USA and Europe (Western Cultures)
56
Collective cultures
- value cooperation with each working towards the family or group goals
- e.g. Japan and Israel (Eastern Cultures)
57
Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg (1988) procedure
- conducted a meta-analysis
- summarized findings from 8 countries, which included the UK, US, Sweden, Japan, China, Holland, Germany & Israel
- examined 32 studies and consulted nearly 2000 Strange Situation classifications in total
58
Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg (1988) findings
- consistent with Ainsworth’s original research
- secure 65%
- avoidant 21%
- resistant 14%
59
AO3 Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg - Population validity
- although more representative than Ainsworth's original study with only American families, still excluded the entirety of Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe
- cannot be generalised and is not universal
- at least there was a very big sample
60
AO3 Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg - Ethnocentric
- the Strange Situation was devised for American cultures, so applying it to other countries is problematic
- non-American infant behaviour was judged against an American standard
- eg., an infant exploring the playroom by themselves would be classed as avoidant based on American standards but is valued as reflecting independence in Germany
- imposed etic and lacks validity
61
AO3 Cultural Variations - Ethical issues
- the Strange Situation was designed to generate a level of stress to the infants, and they could have been confused and psychologically harmed
- there was only presumptive consent as the infants were too young to understand and consent in the study
- Takahashi (1990) used Ainsworth’s strange situation to study the attachment behaviour of 60 infants
- for 90% of the infants in the study, the experiment had to be stopped due to extreme anxiety
62
What is maternal deprivation?
- the lack of emotional care from a primary caregiver
- for example, when a child’s mother becomes seriously ill and cannot care for her child for an extended period
63
What does maternal deprivation lead to?
- an inability to form attachments in the future
- affectionless psychopathy (inability to show affection or concern for others)
- delinquency
- problems with cognitive development
64
44 Juvenile Thieve study
- Bowlby studied 88 children (half thieves, half control group) the thieves were interviewed for affectionless psychopathy
- their families were interviewed to see if they suffered maternal deprivation
- 14/44 of the thieves showed affectionless psychopathy
- 12/44 had prolonged separation from their mothers in the first 2 years of their lives
- in the control group only 2/44 had experienced prolonged separation
- concluded that prolonged early separation/deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy
65
AO3 Maternal deprivation - Real life application
- had an enormous, positive impact on post-war thinking about childrearing and on how children looked after in hospitals.
- before Bowlby's research, children were separated from parents when they spent time in hospital
- visiting was discouraged or even forbidden.
- one of Bowlby's colleagues filmed a two-year-old girl for 8 days while she was in hospital and found her to be frequently distressed and begging to go home
- led to a major social change in way children cared for in hospital.
66
AO3 Thieves study - Contradicting evidence
- firstly, low population validity and is correlational rather than causational
- his study was replicated on a larger scale (500 people)
- found that a long separation from the mother didn't predict criminality or difficult forming relationships
- suggests that other factors can affect the outcome of maternal deprivation.
- maternal deprivation has limited explanatory power
67
AO3 44 Thieves study - Correlational not causational
- he did find a relationship between early separation and delinquency/affection-less psychopathy but we cannot definitively conclude that the separation was the cause
- may have been a third unidentified variable that accounted for the delinquency/ affection-less psychopathy
-eg., the immediate cause of the separation (such as neglect or abuse) might have been the direct cause of problems experienced at adolescence rather than the separation itself
68
AO3 Maternal deprivation - Emotional separation
- Bowlby only considered physical separation but emotional separation can lead to the negative effects of maternal deprivation too
- e.g, a mother who is depressed may b physically present, yet unable to provide suitable emotional care, thus depriving the child
- a study investigated severely depressed mothers and found 55% of children were insecurely attached, compared w 29% in non depressed group.
- shows emotional separation also leads to deprivation and limits Bowlby's explanatory power
- could be socially sensitive to caregivers with mental health problems
69
Institutionalisation
- the term used to describe residence in an institution such as an orphanage or children's home
- eg., child is taken from their primary caregiver and placed in state custody because the caregiver mistreated them
70
Rutter's findings (Romanian Orphans)
- majority were malnourished
- mean IQ was dependent upon age of which orphans were adopted
- those adopted before 6 months had an IQ 25 points higher than those adopted after age 2
- those adopted after 6 months displayed signs of disinhibited attachment, whereas those before 6 months rarely showed this
- 1/3 children had characteristics reminiscent of autism, could not form proper attachments or function properly socially, and generally had a poor mental performance (not seen in the control group)
71
Rutter's procedure (Romanian Orphans)
- studied group of 165 Romanian orphans and assessed them at age 4, 6, 11, and 15 in terms of psychological, emotional and physical development.
- compared results to 50 children adopted in Britain at roughly same time
72
Rutter's conclusions (Romanian Orphans)
- concluded that institutionalisation and deprivation have long-term, severe effects on emotional, social, cognitive and intellectual development
- the earlier adoption occurs, the less severe the long-term effects of institutionalisation and deprivation, as children have the opportunity to form attachments.
- supported the critical period
73
Attachment styles of Romanian Orphans
- studied attachment styles of 95 children between 12-31 months
- the children had spent most of their lives in institutions in Romania (1/2 in fosters homes, 1/2 in institutions)
- 65% had disorganised attachment style
- only 19% had a secure attachment style
74
AO3 Romanian Orphan studies - Real life application
- enhanced our understanding of the effects of institutionalisation
- led to improvements in the way children are cared for within institutions
- avoid having large numbers of caregivers for each child and ensure a more continuous approach
- most babies are now adopted within the first week of birth and research shows adoptive mothers and children are just as securely attached as non adoptive families
75
AO3 Romanian Orphan studies - Longitudinal study
- longitudinal studies are good as they show the effects of variables measured over time
- without such studies we may mistakenly conclude that there are major effects due to early institutional care, whereas some studies show effects may disappear after sufficient time and w suitable high-quality care
- however, longitudinal studies can be very expensive if carried out over long periods of time, as well as having high attrition rates
- also lack of control over extraneous variables
76
AO3 Romanian Orphan studies - Small sample
-the amount of Romanian orphans in this study (165) is very small compared to the amount of Romanian orphans in these institutions
-so the sample isn't representative as different orphans may have had different experiences pre and post adoption
-so the findings aren't generalisable to all children who have spent time in institutions in Romania, let alone worldwide
- cannot be generalised to other countries so low population validity and generalisability
77
AO3 Romanian Orphan studies - Support from Harlow
- Harlow's monkey study supports Rutter's findings about the critical period
- as the monkey's didn't form a secure attachment in their critical period, they suffered developmental issues and struggled in future relationships and social situations, just like the orphans did
78
Internal working model
- according to Bowlby, the attachment a child has with its primary caregiver provides the infant with a schema and template for future relationships
- determines if the child loves, trusts and relies on others and the health of future relationships
79
The continuity hypothesis
- future relationships will follow the pattern based on childhood attachment, impacting childhood relationships, adult relationships and relationships with one's own children
80
Hazan and Shaver (1987)
- conducted a 'love quiz' study, they asked people to respond to a love quiz in the newspaper, the quiz examined feelings in a romantic relationship
- ppts also completed questions on their childhood relationships with their parents and their attachment types
- found a correlation between adult relationships and attachment types: securely attached adults believe in long-lasting love and were less likely to get divorced
81
AO3 Hazan and Shaver - Research support (McCarthy)
- studied 40 adult women who had been assessed as children in their early attachment types
-those who had been assessed as securely attached as infants had the most secure and 'best' adult friendships and relationships
- those who had been assessed as insecure-avoidant, struggled with intimate relationships
- supports Bowlby's attachment theory (internal working model) and Hazan & Shaver's research
82
AO3 Hazan and Shaver - Questionnaire
- social desirability bias could have been present (when ppts give answers to questions that they believe will make them look good to others, concealing their true opinions or experiences)
- decreases internal validity
- however, questionnaires are good as they generate large amounts of quantitative data quickly, and are cost effective
83
AO3 Hazan and Shaver - Retrospective
- rely on the ppts' memories which could compromise the internal validity as ppts could be incorrect unintentionally
- however, a longitudinal study by Simpson et Al found ppts that were securely attached as infants continued having secure attachments in their adult relationships and friendships
- support view that attachment type does predict relationships in adult life
84
AO3 Hazan and Shaver - Sample issues
- sample was selected via volunteering which could have attracted a certain type of person
- all Americans
- low population validity
- however, used both male and female ppts so at least there is no gender bias present
